Saturday, April 9, 2011

Amnesty International Blasts Harper's Plan to Bring Back the Death Penalty

Mark Warner, was ousted as Conservative candidate because he refused to hide the fact that he was a social activist. Attending Aids conferences and speaking up for human rights, did not sit well with Harper's base.

Warner is now sounding the alarm on the behind the scenes machinations of the Conservatives to revive the death penalty.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's personal support for the death penalty is "outlandish" and out of step with the world at large, says the head of Amnesty International. Moreover, Harper's musing — made in a CBC interview in January — that he personally favours the death penalty in some instances ignores the fact that no proof exists that executions deter crime, Amnesty Secretary General Salil Shetty told The Canadian Press in an interview Thursday.

"It's just odd … on the one hand it's just so outlandish a statement that's so out of sync with the reality of where the world is," said Shetty, the London-based Amnesty chief.

And Harper has been stacking the judiciary with like-minded individuals.